Afircan American History Since Emancipation

Catalog description

This course will focus on the struggle of African Americans to achieve full citizenship in the aftermath of legal slavery. In particular, we will consider the promise and demise of citizenship represented by Reconstruction, the era of breathtaking anti-black violence and terror known as "Redemption," and the Great Migrations of African Americans from the South to the North We will study the rise of Jim Crow, the roots of black political organizing in the early 20th century, and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. We will conclude by exploring the transformative effect on American politics of the Black Power Movement and consider how an understanding of its importance compels us to rethink the civil rights era. We will also look ahead to the decades since, when African Americans have continued to wage intense campaigns against racism and other forms of social injustice.